404 error goes way back

What was the date of the first 404 page error?

The 404 error refers to a problem when your browser cannot load a Web URL. No one knows when the first 404 message was produced, but it probably happened in mid-1990, right after researcher Tim Berners-Lee and his partners formulized the FTP (file transfer protocol) message codes for the first version of the Internet.

Some say “404” referred to a room where Lee based the initial Web server – the computer that produces pages when someone looks for a specific Web address. In fact the 404 refers to a series of problems. The first 4 indicates a client (the requesting computer) error. The middle 0 refers to a general syntax error. The last 4 refers to nothing more than an address not found.